


Backwards

by SapphireMoons



Series: A Moment In Time [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fluff and Slight Angst, Gen, GoM Time Travel to First Day at Teikou, It Is Literally Just GoM Bonding, Kagami Is Like Mentioned Once, One Shot, Post-Last Game, Teikou Era, That's it, They Are So Done with Middle School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24854785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphireMoons/pseuds/SapphireMoons
Summary: Six boys awaken to find themselves back to the first day of middle school, all over again.
Relationships: Generation of Miracles & Kuroko Tetsuya
Series: A Moment In Time [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1768309
Comments: 8
Kudos: 263





	Backwards

Time is a human construct, one that man uses to keep track of his schedule and the events as they pass by — or in another definition, it is merely a part of the universe and humans, as evolved as they are, use.

But one thing that is odd of time is the mysteries of it. It can be stopped, yet not. It can be deceiving yet as clear as day.

An oxymoron within itself — a paradox that is so familiar yet so out of this world.

Therefore, when a second-year _high school_ student, Murasakibara Atsushi awakened in his to-be first year _middle school_ student body with his memories intact; he was understandably _confused_. Time did not work backwards, yet here he was.

But the lackadaisical giant ~~(middle school student or not, he was still tall for his age and ethnicity, thank you very much)~~ quickly blinked away his surprise at the fact he was in his family home in Tokyo and not the Yosen dorms of Akita, looking away from his rushing siblings before proceeding to consume breakfast.

~~Meals are important.~~

It was the first day of classes for Teiko. If he recalled correctly, chewing his jammed toast with scrambled eggs (fourth helping — time-traveling was taxing to the stomach). Glancing at his book bag that was stuffed with snacks and not the appropriate textbooks that his Nee-chan had probably prepared for him in another bag, he ignored his older siblings' scolds before walking out to his middle school.

~~_Again._ ~~

Sighing, Atsushi mumbled under his breath. "How troublesome~"

Not too far from the Murasakibara family home, Kise was a similar confounded state, staring at his older, but younger than he recalled, sisters — bickering over the last clean foundation brush in the bathroom, the ruckus having awakened the youngest blonde. Millions of thoughts circulated his brain before he grabbed his phone by his bedside table, amber eyes blearily taking in the date and time, as if under the nation that if he stared long enough time would reverse itself.

~~Spoiler, it didn't.~~

After a sharp yell for him to come down and eat the haphazardly prepared breakfast thrown together by one of his sisters, Kise snapped out of his stupor before dressing himself quickly, the experience of changing in and out of clothes, a second nature in his modeling career.

Freezing in mid-tying his tie, Kise blinked into his reflection.

_Was he really this thin and short then? This… weak? And wait, if he was really in the past, then that would mean that he had to start not only middle school over again but his modeling career too…!_

"Ryota! You'll be late!"

Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Kise took one last look at the mirror ~~(flawless)~~ before dashing down, his thoughts circulating on one thing. 

_He had to do middle school over again… with the_ _good_ _and the_ _bad_ _…_

Grimacing, Kise ran a hand down his face. _Great._

And the blonde was not alone in his reaction.

Aomine was in the same state, glaring at his bedroom after he had gotten the shock of his life at the sight of a younger, ~~more friendly~~ Momoi Satsuki — yelling at him to get his ass out of bed.

 _Fuck this._ He fumed, as he roughly put on his uniform. _He had_ _been_ _through middle school once and it had gone all to_ _shit_ _the first time, what fuck thought he wouldn't screw it up this time? ~~You can change what happened to Tets—Nope.~~_

With half a mind to dial up Akashi or Midorima to confront them on _what the absolute_ _fuckery was going on_ crossed his mind before he quickly dismissed it.

He v much valued his autonomy and where they were. And was not that desperate. _Yet._

Stomping his way down the stairs of his family home, Aomine ignored the calls from Satsuki, hollering for him to get his ass to their new school. Throwing his bag over his shoulder, he cursed every god above before making his way to his middle school, the cherry blossoms of the spring semester billowing over them — mocking.

In his personal chauffeured car, Akashi looked through his phone with an even glare, his uniform and appearance as pristine and clean as it was the previous timeline.

It was not a common phenomenon for himself to be surprised by very much, however, any sane person would state that time travel was not exactly a routine or normal process that was very much researched. It was often discussed and theoretically possible, of course — but only in fantasy or superhero powers.

Although, there was a general public that believed him and the rest of the Kiseki were of such origins — it was not true. Narrowing his monochrome eyes on the date, Akashi closed the screen before sighing, the pristine middle school of Teiko entering his line of sight.

_All the answers lie in Teikou._

Midorima had a similar conclusion, lucky item in hand and school bag slung over his shoulder as he walked to Teikou — after receiving the scare of his life when he thought he had purchased the incorrect lucky item for the day. _The horror._

But after a look at his bedside alarm clock and a fleeting thought of a possible prank by Takao that was swiftly thrown out of the window when his younger sister ran into his room, demanding him to help her tie her shoes — he was most definitely not dreaming nor under the influence of any own drug. He tested.

After obliging his sister after getting ready himself, Midorima eyed the phone book that was his lucky item before dropping off his sister — he had many things to do.

Oha-Asa was never wrong after all. All of their horoscopes seemed to have a date with destiny today.

 _How annoyingly vague of a fortune._ Midorima thought as he glanced at his fingers, wrapping both sets of fingers.

Kuroko sighed as he walked towards Teikou.

_Restart._

* * *

After the entrance ceremony, five phones pinged with a text from a yet-to-be-saved number, but regardless, they recognized it well enough.

_Assuming that I am not in this phenomenon alone, meet in the third string gym after school. Go through the side entrance._ _Discussions of our circumstances will be conducted there._

Basketball tryouts did not start until tomorrow, after school — therefore, the gyms would have been empty. And more importantly, there was no side entrance to the third-string gym, not until the end of their first year as it was the right bleachers before it was moved for reconstruction.

As expected of their ~~former/to-be~~ captain — and on the dot, everyone arrived.

Aomine was lounged at the seats for opposing teams and spectators alike, sprawled out with his school bag at his feet. Seated beside him, Kise was seated, overall ambience a pleasant one, having come to the realization that he may try basketball even earlier than he did the previous. Arriving together with the other two, Murasakibara munched on his snacks from lunch, pouting at the fact that he was on his last four bags. Kuroko entered afterwards, without the other three's notice as usual, taking in the sight of his middle school friends once more, bag slung over his shoulder.

Shortly after, the middle school version of Akashi and Midorima arrived, the latter a step behind the other. "I apologize for keeping you all waiting, although, the circumstances are rather unprecedented outside of fiction."

"Akashi." Aomine greeted before looking around. "Tetsu's not here."

"I'm right here, Aomine-kun." Kuroko deadpanned, scaring everyone but Akashi who smiled lightly at his team.

Even under time travel, it was nice to see _some_ things remained constant.

 _"Uwah!"_ Aomine cried out, speaking for the others. "Tetsu! When did you get here?"

"I've been here all this time." Kuroko responded in his usual fashion.

Hugging the smallest of them, Kise exclaimed with a loud hum. _"Eh~_ You should have said something~ Kurokocchi!"

"I did." Kuroko replied. "None of you noticed until Akashi-kun arrived."

"In any case, Kuroko's low presence aside." Midorima interrupted for a moment. "I, for one, would like the purpose of this meeting to commence."

"And we shall, Shintarou." All of them noted the name change as they did the same at the golden eye of their captain — not to appear until the following year at the very least. "Seeing how all of us have been sent here due to uncertain circumstances — we will first assess one thing at a time. What is the last thing you all can remember from our original timeline?"

Murasakibara answered first, an uncharacteristic frown on his face.

"I fell asleep after coming back to Akita after the game with those annoying gorillas~ _Geh._ My arm was broken."

The others supplied similar stories — that they had departed after the Vorpal Swords and Jabberwock game with their victory, gone to bed, and then awakened to find themselves in past.

When questioned if they had done anything out of the ordinary or anything had happened that was similarly eventful, the unanimous answer was a definitive _no_ , after Kise had begun to say that he almost stubbed his toe. He was handsomely rewarded for his answer, courtesy of Aomine's foot.

"So, we have no idea what caused us to come back here other than the fact that we are?" Aomine grumbled, ignoring Kise's whining. "Does that mean we have to do middle school all over again?! Oi, Akashi, Midorima. _Don't you guys know what the hell is going on here?!"_

"Calm yourself, Daiki." Akashi scolded with a light glare. "As much as I would like to meet your expectations of having such omnipresence, my influence does not transcend time. However, I do have a guess from all of your accounts — we all played together in an official game once more with Kagami Taiga and the day after, we awaken here.

Therefore, we can see this situation in two ways: a way to change the outcome of us becoming the Kiseki no Sedai and the events that lead to that as we know it or to allow it to play out with our prior knowledge to the best of our ability."

"We can't make it like we did in original timeline, Akashicchi?"

"Because we have our memories from that timeline, Kise." Midorima retorted to the blonde with obvious huff. "Even if we wanted to, the timeline is already altered because of that sole fact. We wouldn't react or do any of the things our younger selves may have, despite being ourselves. In other words, we can't be our younger selves because mentally speaking, we're not."

"Therefore, in either case, we have a crossroads before us." Akashi said, a glint in his eyes. "What do you all want to do? To be the Kiseki no Sedai once more and do it differently from what we initially have done or step away from all of that?"

 _"Eh?_ You're giving us a choice, Akashicchi?" Kise blinked in surprise as the others too stared at their former captain in mild fascination, who took their reactions with a grain of salt.

It was surprising, after all — he was giving them the choice to leave behind the events that shaped their lives together.

"Yes, Ryota. Although, I have guesses of my own as for your individual choices, I will not force you into anything. The choice is yours and I will respect it. You all know what will happen if we do the same in our timeline, and I ask of you all to consider carefully of what the repercussions of doing the same or different actions will be."

Silence enveloped the gym before Akashi sighed. "You all do not have to answer me right away. However, as basketball tryouts are tomorrow after class, I expect your answers by lunch."

The following day at lunchtime, one by one, the to-be Kiseki no Sedai gathered with their individual bentos and individual answers on the roof.

Akashi waited patiently as always as they all gave it — unanimously agreeing to be the ultimate team once more, to play once more — only with certain changes.

Kise refused to join in their second year, with full awareness of the future and the conflict with Haizaki, and declared that he was going to be an original member of their three championships.

Aomine grumbled and complained about redoing middle school but turned to Kuroko with an almost nervous air, reaching out with his fist once more, silently asking the smallest of them to be his shadow once more. At this, Kuroko smiled softly before meeting his light halfway, bumping his fist against the tanned one — making his light break out into a wide grin.

Midorima cleared his throat and looked away when he declared that he wasn't going to put his practice to waste and allow his skills to diminish in such a state, not that he cared for the team or anything — before looking at Akashi to the side, offering to take up some of the load off their captain.

Akashi smiled lightly as Midorima said that it was his duty as a vice captain to help after all, not to mention, since Akashi was clearly preoccupied since he was also the student council president — clearly not because he cared or anything of the sort.

Murasakibara was bit output to being on the spot as they all witnessed his little entrance to the Zone, proving that he clearly loved basketball — but in his childish way, looked to Akashi with a guilty face before apologizing, stating that he had grown up a bit from what happened in middle school.

Setting aside his bento, Akashi looked at all of them for a moment before saying an apology of his own, eyes still heterochromic.

Then he bowed, shocking them all. "I wish to apologize as well, to you all. I was selfish for trying to keep you all."

"A-Akashicchi!" Kise lifted the captain from his bow. "Please don't bow to us! W-We all were at fault. It was not just your fault."

"Perhaps, Ryota." Akashi conceded after a moment before he looked to Kuroko. "But it was still my responsibility as your captain and yet..."

"Akashi-kun cannot be blamed for all of the events of our previous timeline." Kuroko said, making everyone turn to him, all blinking at the phantom. "In middle school in the last timeline, we all were at fault. We were too young — we did not know how to play against those who were not at our level. We worked hard, took things too far, for granted and simply too young to carry it all. But this timeline can be different. I want to play basketball with everyone again, for the next three years, just to play together because it's fun."

"Kuro-chin is smiling~" Murasakibara stated the obvious as Kuroko composed himself.

"I do not know what you are speaking of, Murasakibara-kun." 

_"Kurokocchi~_ You should smile more~! You look so _CUTE~!"_

"I am not cute, Kise-kun. P-Please release me."

"Oi, Kise! You heard him. Let him go!"

"Well, I may have to ask you to give me your opinion on several new training menus for me, Shintarou. I will be having my hands full with speaking to Coach Shirogane and Nijimura-senpai later today in requesting to be in charge of the rest of us."

"Training menus already, Akashicchi?!"

"We didn't _fucking_ join yet! And you're going to kill us with your hell practice already, Akashi?!"

"Language, Aomine. Your language is as crude as your brain, there are minors present. Not that I care or anything."

"I am so _fucking_ sorry. And we're all minors, you tsundere."

"I am not a tsundere, you idiot."

"I don't wanna practice, Aka-chin~"

"It is a requirement, Atsushi. I cannot exempt you just because you don't want to. You know that to play basketball well, you must practice, remember? And do not worry, it will be adjusted to your limits."

They felt a chill run down their spine at the last sentence. "…And how would we know our limits, Akashi-kun?"

It was not like Momoi-san from the previous timeline was here with them too to supply that for him.

"Why, I thought it be obvious, Tetsuya. Do everything until you are at your limit."

Aomine hugged his shadow closer to him before declaring with the voice of a man who had truly given up. "We're going to die. It was nice knowing you, Tetsu."

* * *

True to Aomine's prediction, the ~~five~~ six of them were currently worshipping the ground on their backs in the third-string gym — all having made it to first-string, Kuroko too, after they had matches to display his incredible passes and misdirection.

To which, Akashi was granted authority over the six of them with their training menus with the assistance from the newly-made manager, Momoi, who recognized Kuroko as the same person to give his winning popsicle to her before tackling him in hug.

Usually, after practice in the previous timeline, they all went home — that is until they caught sight of the mischievous glint on their to-be captain's eye. And promptly stayed behind to gather at the third-string gym.

A single game, the Rakuzan captain said. Play as you wish, he said.

The almost lackadaisical way Akashi had dismissed the game irked them all, and the most irritating thing was… it fucking _worked_ and they all knew Akashi had said it because he knew it would rile them up — after practice or not.

 ~~ _Bastard_~~.

The next thing Aomine knew, he was chasing after Kise with Akashi marking Midorima, Tetsu in the shadows, ready to pass at any moment with Murasakibara under the opposing team's hoop, daring them to shoot. Momoi was watching them all with analytical eyes, jotting down observations and such at their leader's request.

That was two hours ago, Momoi having been sent to get some Pocari.

Peeling his head from the floor, Aomine groaned as he looked at the score, making the others follow his line of sight.

A tie.

"Do not be so disappointed, Daiki." Akashi said, having already stood up and was drying his sweat with a towel, throwing one for each of them. How in the _ever-loving-fuck_ was he standing already? "You will have other opportunities to go against us. We have three years, after all."

"Keh." Aomine huffed, mumbling a thanks for the towel as he looked at his shadow.

Tetsu was unmoved from the floor, the towel over his head, ready for burial.

"Ara, ara~ Is Kuro-chin dead?" Murasakibara hummed, poking at the head under the towel. "Kuro-chin~ Wake up~ You'll get a cold from sleeping on the floor~"

"DON'T DIE, KUROKOCCHI~!" Kise cried dramatically, running to the shadow before Midorima stopped him with a scowl.

"He's just exhausted, idiot. He's not dead, not that it's any of my concern. Aquarius ranked third today with a teaspoon as his lucky item, so he will be fine. But as much as I hate to admit it, Murasakibara is right, do not sleep on the floor, Kuroko."

"Hey, Tetsu. Can you get up?" Aomine prodded him, pulling up the shadow, who lolled his head for a moment before seeing his light. Some light colored those blank eyes.

"Good morning, Aomine-kun."

"It's night, Tetsu."

"My apologies. Good evening." Kuroko corrected himself as he blinked up at Aomine as the ace dried his damp hair. "Did we win, Aomine-kun?"

"Unfortunately, it was a tie between us, Tetsuya." Akashi smiled as he gestured for all of them to follow. "But I believe that is enough for today, considering we all need to accommodate ourselves to our younger bodies. No more basketball until tomorrow's practice, I will not have you all injuring yourselves. ~~(Insert pointed look at Aomine and Kise here.)~~ But for now, to the showers."

Thirty minutes later, all of them were outside a convenience store each with a popsicle (and more, a box in the purple-haired man-child's hands) bought by Kise, who was bullied into paying.

("I'm not a model yet! I don't have that much money!"

 _"Hah_? You think that's an excuse for you to not pay?"

 _"Aominecchi_ , you cheapskate! _You_ pay for once!"

"I pay for important stuff."

"Porn magazines are not important, Aomine."

"Neither are lucky items, you tsundere!"

"Then you pay Murasakibaracchi, you always have enough to buy food all the time."

"My food money is mine~ Kise-chin~ Do you want me to crush you~?"

 _"Gah!_ _KUROKOCCHI_ , SAVE ME~!"

"P-Please let go of me, Kise-kun."

"THANK YOU FOR THE WINNING STICK, TETSU-KUNNN~!"

"Momoi-san… I cannot breathe."

Fifteen minutes later...

"Ryota, as punishment for suffocating Tetsuya, you will pay. Daiki will pay next time — we will pay in turns unless anyone _has any complaints_ otherwise?"

The answer was an anonymous no.)

As they all departed, all of them found themselves looking forward to their middle school days, redone.


End file.
